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Rice export windfall to be reaped
Vietnam is looking to cash in on a bumper rice harvest with record exports this year.
More than one million tonnes of rice is set to be shipped by the year’s end, bringing 2009’s total shipment volume to a record six million tonnes, said a senior Vietnam Food Association (VFA) official.
“Based on the signed shipment contracts and forecast bumper summer-autumn crop, local firms will be able to ship an average 400,000 tonnes of rice each month until the end of 2009,” said VFA general secretary Huynh Minh Hue.
The VFA revealed that Vietnam has so far signed deals to export 5.63 million tonnes of rice, including government-to-government and company-to-company contracts. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s (MoIT) Centre for Industry and Trade Information (CITI), more shipment deals were expected to come to fruition in Asian markets.
Vietnam is negotiating a 400,000-500,000 tonne shipment deal with the Philippines, the biggest rice buyer from Vietnam. “The shipment will be carried out later this year if the deal is signed,” according to the CITI.
Vietnam sold 4.55 million tonnes of rice abroad worth $1.9 billion in the first eight months of this year, up 46 per cent in terms of volume against last year’s corresponding period, according to the VFA.
Enterprises are promoting purchase from local farmers to fulfill shipment deals. They have bought more than one million tonnes of summer-autumn rice from farmers, who have already harvested around 75 per cent of their summer-autumn paddy.
Hue said local firms have enough stocks to fulfill contracted shipment deals. “However, the association is considering requiring the firms to continue buying from the farmers to help them avoid price falls for their summer-autumn paddy rice, which are in the peak of harvest,” he noted. Paddy rice price in the Mekong Delta, the country’s rice hub, fell by 12-15 per cent in August to around VND3.5-3.8 million ($196-$213) per tonne.
Hue said local firms, who were required to continue buying from farmers, were suffering as some storage systems were already full. “We are, therefore, trying to negotiate more export deals with other markets, besides the Philippines, to enable a continuance in our shipment activities, hence reducing storage capacity pressures,” Hue said.
The African market was in the eye of Vietnamese rice exporters, said the VFA. However, payment delays were a concern for Vietnamese sellers. Vietnam’s 5 per cent broken rice price fell to around $398 per tonne this month, $168 a tonne cheaper than Thailand’s.
The Vietnamese government is aiming to improve rice shipment volumes in 2009 to make up for a decline in prices, which have fallen more than 13 per cent against April, this year.
VietNamNet, VIR
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